Improvement in invalid bedsteads



mwmml N.PETERS. PHOTO-LITMOGRAPMER, WASHINGTUN, D, c.

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WILLI'AMO. REID, OF VIENNA, NORTH CAROLINA.

Letters Patent No. 111,380, dated January 31, 1871.

IMPRQVEMENT IN INVALID BEDSTEADS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.-

\ be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making apart of this specification, in which` Figure lis a longitudinal vertical central section, with the bed-bottom horizontal, and

Figure 2 is a similar section, with the part F raised in a vertical position, and the part G elevated above the level of the bed.

This invention relates to certain improvements on the adjustable bedstead for which Letters Patent numbered 100,324, Aand bearing date March 1, 1870, were granted me, said bedstead consisting in an arrangement of the bottom in three sections, jointed together, and supported on a transverse axis mounted in .the side-rails of the bedstead, wherewith are com'- bined novel larrangements of supporting and adjusting-arms and hoisting and adjusting pulleys, whereby the patient'may, while lying on the bed, raise himself to a sitting position, .with the feet. projecting below the plane of the bottom of the bed, which assumes the position of a large chair, and whereby, also, heV

may, while lying on the bed, raise the thighs to a perpendicular position.

My improvements relate, in part, to a simplification of the mechanism, whereby the patient is enabled to mise his thighs into a perpendicular position, and,'in part; to a mechanism whereby the patient is enabled,

if not ina perfectly helpless condition, to answerthe calls of nature without rising from the hed ordemanding the aid of an attendant.

E F Gare the three sections of the bottom of the bedstead.

H, the transverse shaft upon which the parts E and Fare hinged, and which is mounted in the side- Yrails of the bedstead.

'11., an arm rigidly attached at its` upper end to the shaft H, and projecting downward and forward therefrom, said arm bearing, at its lower extremity, a grooved pulley, over which `the cord l) passes, by pulling which the section F is raised to a vertical position, as set fort-h in the said Letters Patent, the said ,shaft H being provided with arms, not shown in the section so as to raise it when the rock-shaft "W is turned; and it is to this rock-shaft that the arm u is attached in the said former invention.

' In my present invention I have done away with the rock-shaft, and attached the arm u and the arms that Iift the sect-ionF directly to the transverse shaft H, as above explained, and in this way I have simplified the mechanism which effects the elevation ofthe sections F and G. v

B' is the stopper in the section F, which has to be dropped when the 'patient is compelled to attend to K the calls of nature. 'Ihe said stopper in -my former invention must be operated by an attendant.

One of my presentimprovements is a mechanism whereby the patient may drop and raise the stopper himself. 'Io this endI have provided a rod, a, rigidly attached to and extending downward from the under side of the section F.

To the rod a is pivoted a latch, b, whose upper extremity bears against the lower side of the stopper 'B'.

A spring, c, tends to keep the latch in position under the stopper.

To the lower end of the latch b a cord, (Z, is attached, which cord passes backward through a hole, e, in the head cross-piece j' of the bedstead, and over a sheave, h., placed within the hole-e, thence upward. to a sheave, t, in one endof the grooved support O thence forward to a sheave, It, in the opposite end of said support, and 4thenge downward to within convenient reach of the patient.

After the latter has converted the bed intov a large y chair by the means explained i'n the said Letters Patent, he has only to pull the cord d, when the stopper B drops and leaves an orifice, through which the patient inay ease himself into a vessel supported below upon the frame Z, placed transversely beneath the bedstead, and attached at its ends to the sides of the same.

This having been done, when the patient restores the bed-bottom to its horizontal position, by the means also explained in the said Letters Patent, the tooth m of the arm I strikes the stopper B' andraises it so far that the latch l) slips under and holds it.

Ilo hooks n, attached to the inner side of the footj.

Having thus described my invention7 What I claim as new, :md desire to secure by Letters'Patent, is-

l. The shaft H, when mounted in the side-mils of 'the bedstead, l.md provided with the .arm 11 and couibined with the section E F of the bed-bottoni, so as to subserve not only its original purpose of :t pivot, but also to take the place of all other apparatus for elevating the section F,' ns described. y

- 2. The combination of the hinged stopper B with the bnr a., latch b, spring c, and cord d, when all these parts are constructed and arranged its setl forth.

3; The combination of' the hinged stopper vB' with the swinging arm I and tooth m, as specified.

T o the abovespecicution of my invention I have signed my hand this 23d day of June, A. D. 1870.

VIM. O. REID.

Witnesses D. DURAND. CEAS. A. PEtrcrlr'r.` 

